Couldn't Resist

Bicycle -- NEX-5N & JML 50mm f0.95 @ f0.95, ISO 3200. Click for larger

After reading the NEX-5N reviews, I couldn't resist so I went out and bought one today.  This will be an upgrade to my current NEX-5.  Once I am happy with the 5N, I will sell the NEX-5.

One thing I immediately noticed after I turned on the camera, was the speed of operation has improved markedly.  Everything seems faster.  The old NEX-5 was excruciating slow when it comes to image review, and the turn on time from wake up was unbearable.  The second thing I noticed was the shutter sound is quite a bit quieter with less vibration, due to the front curtain shutter release.  I shot RAW+JPEG and the JPEG image shows a lot of heavy noise reduction, even on ISO 800, but the images are very clean even on ISO 6400.  There is almost no chroma noise.  The jpeg engine in the 5N seems to be much better those from any Sony cameras before.

Eager to test out the RAW output so I installed the Sony RAW converter.  What a mistake.  It's one of the most horrible piece of software.  Compared to the Canon DPP, the Sony version is just plain bad.  I will wait for Adobe to update its DNG converter to support the 5N.

Overall, it's a much more refined camera than the origianl NEX-5.  I will wait and see what the NEX-7 offers in terms of image quality when it's available in November.

Nikon's EVIL

Red Pedal -- NEX-5 & Leica Summicron 90mm f2.

The long rumored Nikon EVIL camera(s), the V1 and J1 have finally been unveiled. I think people are just surprised to find that the sensor size is some weird 2.7x, and than many got angry.  Most would expect Nikon's version of the mirrorless camera to be better than the offerings from Sony and the Micro 4/3 camp, but it turns out to be not what everyone expected.  Personally, neither the J1 and V1 interest me even one bit, I guess they are not targeted at consumers like me.  I understand they do not want the new mirrorless system to directly compete against their own entry level DSLR line.  So, to Nikon, this makes perfect sense, just not to the Nikon dire hard fans who were expecting more.

The samples I have seen look disappointing.  ISO 400 is already too noisy.  Seriously, they don't look much better those from the Canon G12 point & shoot.  What's the point?

So, Canon is now officially the only major camera maker who does not have a mirrorless camera system.  If they are planning something similar to Nikon's offering, I would be very disappointed.  I am hoping Canon will make something more innovative, better than what's already or soon to be on the market.

Canon 5D II Price Drop

Prelude to Autumn -- NEX-5 & Voigtlander Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Just checked Henry's and the price of the Canon 5D Mark II is now officially under $2000 ($1999.99).  This is great news, not the least is that it will drive the price the used 5D II way down, but also makes my decision even more difficult to choose between the NEX-7 and 5D II.  There are two things that are going for the 5D II: exceptionally good high ISO performance, and full frame.  The NEX-7, of course, is the small size, view finder, and hopefully good enough image quality.  At this moment, I am considering a 5D II, and then upgrade my NEX-5 to the NEX-5N.  Decisions, decisions.

Voigtlander Super-Dynarex 135mm f4 Sample

Bicycle -- NEX-5 & Voigtlander Super-Dynarex 135mm f4 @ f4.

Voigtlander and Kodak were the two major camera makers that used the DKL mount.  DKL was not really that common and therefore there aren't that many DKL mount lenses out there.  Most of them were made by either Voigtlander or Schneider-Kreuznach.  I have small collection of DKL lenses, but unfortunately, all except the Schnieder-Kreuznach 50mm f1.9 have very long minimum focus distance.  We complain about this on rangefinder lenses, like the Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.7 with MFD of 0.7m.  Both the Schneider 135mm f4 and the Voigtlander 135mm f4 have MFD of 4 meters (15 ft)!  So, any kind of close up is out of the question without extension tubes or close-up filters.

Strangely enough, the Voigtlander Super-Dynarex has a 40.5mm filter size, and the Schneider Telexenar 135mm f4 has a 58mm filter size.

The Super-Dynarex 135mm f4 is a very nicely made lens.  The one I have is in amazing shape and very clean inside and out.  Being such an old lens, it's remarkably usable optically, even at f4.  Due to the very long MFD, this is the second time I actually used the lens, after acquiring it for a while.  I find long lenses like 135mm or 200mm, very hard to focus on the G1 or NEX-5. If I magnify the image, it shakes too much due to small angle of view, add to the problem is the lack of a view finder on the NEX-5, which makes manual focus even harder.

I don't see myself using this lens or the Schneider Telexenar 135mm f4 much.  I don't like lenses with very long minimum focus distance.

Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5 -- First Sample

Signs -- NEX-5 & Tokina RMC 17mm f3.5 FD. Click for larger.

This is one of the few lenses I picked up at the camera show.  Unfortunately, it's in Canon FD mount, which means it's really usable on M43 or NEX, if you shoot digital.  I know there are adapters with glasses inside for EOS, but these kinds of adapters never really interest me, having tried one before.

Back in the olden days, a 24mm lens is consider very wide, and 20mm is extremely wide; a 17mm is approaching fisheye territory.  But, nowadays, 20mm equivalent wide angle is so common, even on the APS-C format.  But, ultra wide angles were very expensive back then, even for third party lens marques.  It was (is) difficult to design ultra wide angles that have good distortion, sharp at corners, great colors, with good flare control.  So, inexpensive ultra wide angle were not really that good a performer.  I had a Sparitone 18mm f3.2 a few years back, and it was just a so so lens.  But, that didn't stop me from using it and got some memorable pictures from it.  This Tokina seems to be a lot better than the Sparitone.  Haven't taken enough pictures to assess its image quality, but the initial pictures look promising.  More pictures to come.

As a side note, I bought the LCD cover for the NEX-5.  A piece of plastic that costs $22!  Unbelievable.

Shooting at f0.95

William -- NEX-5 & JML 50mm f0.95 TV Lens @ f0.95, ISO 800. Click for larger.

Every time I used the JML 50mm f0.95 lenses, I thank my lucky star, to give me an opportunity to acquire this (and its little brother, the JML 25mm f0.95) lens.  For portraiture, it's completely usable at f0.95, as long as there are no point light sources that would make the picture distracting.  A lens with a maximum aperture of f0.95 is a dream for lots of people.  It affords one to take pictures with ultra thin depth of field, but at the same time is relatively affordable to own, unlike the Leica version.

Also tried the JML 25mm f0.95 on the NEX-5.  This lens already vignettes pretty bad on my G1, and on the NEX-5, there is a dark boarder.  With some cropping, it's still usable, as the picture below shows.  After cropping, the pictures is about 7 MP, still has enough resolution of a relatively big enlargement.  As with its bigger brother, the 50mm, this lens is also usable wide open at f0.95 but with the same kind of problem as the 50mm with point light sources.

William -- NEX-5 & JML 25mm f0.95 @ f0.95, ISO 400. Heavily cropped. Click to enlarge.

Uncropped from camera jpeg.

With such fast lenses, I find myself able to shoot at very dim lights and still use a low ISO setting, typically 400 or 800.  The biggest problem is focusing.  For anything that moves, it's next to impossible to get critical focus at f0.95.  It's much easier with the G1 than the NEX-5 for this kind of shooting.  Often I don't need to enlarge the area to obtain critical focus on the G1, due to its great view finder.  That's why I so look forward to the NEX-7.  Just hope the image from it won't disappoint.

A Rare Beauty

Voigtlander Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8 DKL -- World's first zoom lens for the 35mm format phtography. Here fitted with the DKL to EOS adapter 

Today's show changed venue from the Thornhill Community Centre to a hotel conference room in Toronto, closer to where I live.  I found it to be smaller/more crowded than the old place.  There seemed to be fewer vendors as well.

I went there with some M-Mount/LTM lenses in mind, but all of them are way out of my budget.  I especially was looking for a Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 for the Prominent.  I saw some sample pictures from this lens and I really like it.  But, couldn't find one.  Instead, bought a Voigtlander Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8 lens.  This is definitely not a common lens and it is in really good condition.  It was the world's first zoom lens for 35mm format, with a constant f2.8 aperture to boot.  It definitely set a high standard for others to follow.  It come in different mounts, like DKL (which mine is), Exaktar, M42 and possibly other mounts.  This lens was built like the proverbial out house.  Even after 50 years, the lens feels like it was made this year.  The focus is butterly smooth and the zoom action is amazing. Truly one of the best engineered lenses.

William -- NEX-5 & Voigtlander Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8 @ f2.8. Click for larger.

I knew being the first zoom lens, there were many compromises in the design, so I didn't really expect it to perform well.  Definitely not a contender with today's zoom lenses.  I have a DKL to EOS adapter for my other DKL lenses and I was able to snap a few pictures with this zoom.  Sure enough, the corners are bad, even on the 1.5x sensor of the NEX, but the center of the frame is reasonably sharp.  Even stopping down didn't produce sharp corners.   I bought it purely because it was the world's first zoom lens for 35mm format, and I want to own a piece of photographic history.  Do not buy this lens if you are looking great optical performance. Any of today's cheap zooms will be optically better, though built quality is entirely another matter.

Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4

Pink Roses -- NEX-5 & Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 @ f1.4. Click for larger

At last, my NEX-5 is back.  I picked it up from Sony's repair center this morning.  Sure enough, it now has a brand new LCD screen.  I will buy a screen cover for it tomorrow to prevent the coating from coming off again. I was, however, very disappointed to find the sensor covered with lots of dust.  Every time I had my camera serviced at Canon, they always cleaned the sensor, even without asking.  It would have been nice of Sony to do the same.  I am sure it won't take more than a minute of their time.

Also got a chance to try the Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 on the NEX-5.  I like how small but well built the Nokon is.  It's very sharp lens even wide open.  Very happy to find that with the 1.5x sensor, I don't see any vignetting at all even at f1.4.  It take a bit of getting used to to have aperture on the front and focusing ring at the back (like many c-mount cine lenses).  I did fumble a few times trying to focus and changed the aperture instead.  Natively at 40mm, it's equivalent to 60mm on theNEX-5, and I guess it's still considered a normal lens.  Due to its very short flange distance, the adapter is relatively thin which makes the lens look small, as opposed to SLR lenses where the adapter is very thick; even a pancake lens would look ridiculously large.

The only thing I don't like about the Nokton, is its 0.7m minimum focusing distance.

I can already see myself in trouble.  M-mount lenses are perfect for the NEX.  Just thinking about putting this lens on the NEX-7 with a gorgeous viewfinder increases my heart beat.  I just hope that I will go slow adding M-mount lenses.  My next target is likely a 12mm, or 15mm or a 21mm Voigtlander, since it's quite a bit cheaper than other makes.  The 35mm is too close to the 40mm I already have.

Heaven have mercy on me, and give me strength to resist emptying my account on M-mount lenses.

The Sony Repair Experience

Pine Cones -- Panny G1 & Kern-Paillar Switar 75mm f1.9. Click for larger. 

Two weeks and and a day ago, I dropped off my Sony NEX-5 at the Sony repair center and I was quoted that the camera should be fixed between 1 and 10 business days.  That's pretty good in my opinion, because my experiences with Canon didn't fair very well, in terms of length of time and quality of service.

Let me get the negative aspects of this Sony repair experience first.  My major complain is that their repair status on their web site does not work.  I always receive errors.  Contrast to this, Canon is very good in this regard. I just think that a company this large, can not have a simple function that many people actually use, working.  I can't imagine what consequences for me is, if I were responsible for this function, at my job.  I don't think my manager will be too happy about this, but it doesn't seem to bother Sony.

So, I called three times over the length of the repair, to inquire on the status of the repair.  On my second call this Wednesday, I was told that the camera was fixed, and they asked if I wanted to have it shipped to me, or I would like pick it up.  They told me I could receive the camera on Friday (today) if I had it shipped.  I agreed to having it shipped and was expecting to receive it today.  But, I didn't.

Called again today the customer service rep told me the camera wasn't shipped.  I was pretty unhappy that they gave me conflicting information, but I told them I would pick it up on tomorrow (Saturday).  I am hoping there will be no issues getting the camera tomorrow.

Now the positive.  From the dropping off to the telephone calls, every one was courteous and friendly.  The facility was very good.  They didn't give me a hard time about replacing the screen, since, technically, the screen was not broken, just the coating came off.  They did fix the camera within ten business days as quoted.

Over all, I would rate this as a positive experience.  Hopefully, I won't have to use it again.

Why a Bargain Could Push You into the Deep End

Algoma Provider Toronto -- Panny G1 & Kodak 50mm f1.6 cine lens. Click for larger.

Most of us have one or more "lucky" moments in our life time.  The most common is buying something much cheaper than the market value.  Last week, I was browsing in a store than sells second hand stuff, and noticed a lens on the shelf.  It was a Leica M-Mount Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4 MC, with a original hood.  The owner didn't know anything about lenses and consequently, I bought it for a ridiculously low price.  To me, this could mean trouble.

Around 2005, I started using manual focus lenses on my digital SLR.  It all started with a cheap 50mm M42 mount lens.  Then I got hooked, and started to try different mounts and eventually any kind of lenses that can form images.  As of today, I have spent many thousands of dollars on manual focus lenses, not to mention more than a grand on adapters.

Long ago I told myself to steer way from M-mount lenses, because they are usually very costly, albeit very good quality optics.  Getting the Nokton 40mm f1.4 could be the start of another expensive adventure.  I have already gotten the M to NEX adapter, and have started looking at other M-mount lenses.  The short flange of the M-mount means the adapter is relatively thin, which mean M-mount lenses look very good on the NEX body.  I can see the allure of a fast, yet small M-mount lenses on the NEX.

Can't wait to try the Nokton 40/1.4 on my NEX-5.  It should be back tomorrow if all goes well.

I am just hoping I won't go over the cliff.